THE HARDSHIPS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Entrepreneurs so often set out to ‘solve a problem’ that they have found and, as shown by Samantha Hamilton-Rushforth, they often find a perfect fit between their idea and the market they are in. Samantha quit her job as a journalist in December 2014 to pursue Beem, Dubai’s first beauty emergency application that connects salons with customers around the city. Growing up in the region, first in Saudi Arabia and then in Dubai itself, Samantha found the gap in the market through her work as a journalist and finally decided to take the plunge and start Beem. She hasn’t looked back since and her application finally gives customers and beauty salons a digital platform on which to connect.

However, Samantha gave us a brilliant indication of just how difficult it is to be an entrepreneur in this part of the world. She admitted that she endured, “sleepless nights and 3 o’clock in the morning emails not just to thrive but to survive at the base level.”

Entrepreneurship certainly is not for the faint-hearted and that was something we really got to learn from Samantha as she gave us an insight into how difficult it was for her to start off with. Founding Beem on her own meant she had to have, in her own words, “a stomach of steel” as she came to grips with all the challenges that come along with starting your own business.

It was refreshing to hear the founder of a company give a proper account of the harsh reality behind starting a business and Samantha hopes it can help others who are thinking of getting into the world of entrepreneurship. The rewards are great but the graft required to get there is what must be considered and Samantha is a perfect example of how when the hard work is put in, being able to fill a hole in the market can be hugely rewarding.